Publisher :
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2009
Thematic : Marine Protected Areas
Language : English
Note
Marine protected areas can enhance fish stocks within their boundaries, but the circumstances in which
they might also supplement stocks or enhance fisheries outside their boundaries are less clear. Using
visual survey and fishery data, we assess the impacts of increasing fishing effort, and of the establishment
in Hawaii of a network of areas closed to aquarium fishing, on the prime-target species, yellow tang
(Zebrasoma flavescens), and draw conclusions about MPA impacts on long-term fishery sustainability.
Between 1999, when 27.8% of the coastline was closed to collecting, and 2007, the number of active fishers
and total catch of yellow tang doubled. Prior to MPA establishment, yellow tang densities were similar
at sites open to fishing and those slated for closure. By 2007, closed areas had five times the density of
prime targeted sized fish (5–10 cm), and 48% higher density of adults than open areas. Densities of adults
in ‘boundary’ areas (open areas <1 km from nearest MPA boundary) were significantly higher than in
open areas far from MPA boundaries, which was indicative of spillover at that scale. Given the long
life-span of yellow tang (>40 years) relative to the duration of protection and the increasing intensity
of fishing, the likelihood is that protected areas will become increasingly important sources for the adult
fishes which will sustain stocks and the fishery over the longer term.
Go to source
Keywords : Chrotomys silaceus
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
